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MSNative

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  1. I think the two books seem very different. (having only just read the look inside feature and a quick google search.) WTM inspires me to challenge my children and myself by giving them a classical Christian education. This other book looks like it probably does that, too. However, WTM also gives you a very clear, concise, step by step plan of attack that is invaluable. I have read too many homeschooling books that are vague and therefore frustrating!! In addition, I continue to reference my well-thumbed thru copy of WTM because of the reviews of all the different curricula out there. Anyway, just a long winded way of saying that if there is another book that inspires people to a classical Christian education - Fantastic!! The more the merrier. They will most likely turn to WTM for specifics on how to actually start - and stay -on their journey. I do agree, though, that the marketing of it is catty. So sad.
  2. Eddie Bauer - Love their capris and they are actually capris, not long shorts. (5'11 so I def. know what you mean.) They also have different fits, so you can pick the one that works best for your figure. :)
  3. I teach my kids that our faith is the correct one and I teach them why. However, when we discuss other religions, we discuss them thoughtfully. I never allow my kids to mock or attack anyone who believes something different. I teach them how to share their faith when someone asks, but other than that, to just live properly. We also focus on the importance of freedom of religion. That is the type of tolerance I really want to promote in them. They can be strong in their faith - strong enough to allow others to worship how they want while my kids stay true to theirs. Interesting questions. I look forward to reading the responses. :)
  4. Ugh!! We've had to do that before. I went over with a smile and a big plate of cookies. I also had the card of a cheap pooper scooper service. If you handle it very nicely and maybe just blame it on an oversensitive nose (that was my excuse) it should go alright. Plus, I noticed right away when they had picked it up and went over with a coffee cake to thank them. (Yes, I do try to bribe my neighbors.) Good luck!!
  5. My husband will be so thrilled to know that it only takes 10 years!! :)
  6. We have found two pairs of pants and two golf shirts for the boys to wear to church. They pick them out when we buy them. They choose then if it's comfortable, cute, etc. They get to pick which they wear Sunday morning. No questions, no chaos.
  7. I was just over at a friend's house and their son told me that he just started homeschooling last month. My friend hadn't mentioned it at all. Their son just goes online, does his lessons and calls it a day. They are all thrilled, but very blase about it. It is almost a non-issue. Seeing that, though, made me realize how much I define myself as a homeschooler. I love it. My free time is spent reading about it, reading classics so I can guide the kids better, coming up with new schedules that we won't follow for more than a week... Just curious: where do y'all fall on the spectrum? Is it your hobby like mine or is it just something your kids do?
  8. Thanks for the recommendation. Along those lines, have you tried Green Eggs and Ham in Latin? Not meant for teaching the same way the B-C ones are, but my kids laughed through it.
  9. We use MUS and supplement with Singapore. Singapore alone didn't seem to cut it for my kids, but with MUS it is great. However, if you want to go a completely different way, what about the Life of Fred books? Or just keep using what you're using and skip lessons that she knows already.
  10. Just keep reading, reading, reading. She is picking up more than you know. We did that with our guys and both were reading by three without us doing any instruction. We did read some of the simple readers which seemed to help, but mostly we just read books they liked. I agree that there is just a switch that goes off when kids are ready. You can't push it and you can't change it. She is doing great.
  11. There are several websites you can find that will give you guidelines for determining if your child is gifted. Only testing will tell you "for sure." (Based on your description though, save your money. The girl is gifted, IMHO) That said, I would suggest you just continue to provide a rich learning environment for her and let her go rather than focusing on the label. (You were smart to quit reading the books to tell you what "normal" is.) As far as curricula - I think the three you are looking at would be great. They are book intensive which is fun for kids that age and will keep you from feeling like you are pushing her. MUS is great. My boys love it and it allows them to go as quickly as they need to go. Plus, playing with the blocks is just fun for any kid. My advice: let her soar with her strengths and work lovingly to stretch her in her weaknesses. For example, my son is very gifted, but hates to write. We use curricula that allow us to do a lot orally so he can still learn at the pace he wants. Handwriting is the only subject he is working at grade level and that's just fine. We don't hold him back til he can write better and faster. Enjoy your son and daughter. You have a wonderful journey ahead of you.
  12. Too funny. I was just going to pipe in and add my favorite book: History Through the Ages. Turns out that's what the Homeschool in the Woods book is. Never knew. We got ours off a different book site. :)
  13. I don't think it would hurt to keep moving along into 2A. If your DS is doing great (and it sounds like he is) let him keep going. Too supplement, you could add fun worksheets or math games or projects together that use a lot of math.
  14. We use R&S and I don't think it's overkill with TOG. It works well for us. We also have the kids in a homeschool bible study with daily work, so I guess, yes, we use a separate bible curriculum. When I write it all out it sounds like a ton, but in reality it isn't overwhelming. Good luck. :)
  15. Sounds like you may have your answer. Just reading what you wrote makes me think that you may want to take some time and really consider homeschooling. Learning a second (or third or fourth) language is wonderful. However, is it more important that your family values, creativity, literature, etc? Maybe you can try homeschooling this summer and see how it goes. It can at least give you a chance to compare apples to apples since both school and homeschooling have pros and cons. Good luck! Buena suerte! (sp?) Jackie
  16. If he's really just burned out, there's nothing wrong with skipping the chapter and coming back to it at a later date. Maybe now is the time to try to spice things up in the math department. Have you tried adding some online math work to supplement? We do MUS and supplement with Singapore and Saxon. My kids get sick of doing problems on the pages, but will do an online math drill or game with no fussing. MUS has a simple online drill that my kids actually like. A quick search for online math games brings up tons of results - from simple drill to more difficult work. As far as weights and measures - what about going hands on. Build a birdhouse or just a box. Something that he can get his hands on and start to see why on earth all this measuring is important. Weights - my kids will do anything to get to play with our balance scale. They'd much rather figure out grams and ounces that way. Graphing - box of jelly beans. We graphed on paper and then turned our data into all sorts of different graphs with excel. Seaworld also has some teacher guides that have real world, interesting questions that captured and held my kids' attention. They are free from their site. Good luck!
  17. I totally agree with streamlining your curricula as much as possible. I've done the juggle before and yikes, what an energy drain. I think a lot of your schedule will depend on you and your kids. I always start out with a very formal and full schedule. They are all excited to start the new year with new books and seem to do well with a full schedule then. After about 6 weeks, I realize that the schedule was nuts and adjust it. The kids are happy because it usually means less work for them. Before you even start trying to develop a schedule, write out your goals for homeschooling. Make sure that you are doing something to meet those goals everyday. This will help you really focus your time on what is most important to you. It's also good to keep around and look at when you start thinking that you are failing and your kids will never compete in the world - which tends to happen to me right around this time of year. Lastly, try to figure out when you can be most productive. We have a baby who naps in the afternoon. I schedule as much "teaching" time as possible then. The times he is awake, I try to schedule independent work, etc. If your kids are early birds, try to schedule more challenging subjects early. If they are night owl, shoot for later. Don't feel boxed in to a "regular" school day. We have started doing fun science and art projects on the weekends, simply because I can't seem to get them done during the week. Good luck with it. If you develop a perfect schedule, please share. I bet we're all still looking for it!! :)
  18. LOL! We have run into the same thing with Pimsleur - literally almost the exact same dialogue. Finding cold beer must be a serious problem throughout the world! ;) We started our boys with Chinese at ages 5 and 6 (mainly because their good friend and neighbor is Chinese. Can't pass up an opportunity like that) We use Pimsleur and then just some kids Chinese cds. They aren't now, nor will they probably ever be close to fluent. They speak and understand way more than I do and can have "secret" conversations with their friend, which makes them even more motivated. We'll keep it up as long as we have our buddy/tutor close by. A year later we started Spanish. They enjoy it and I like learning it with them. We use a variety of books and online podcasts. Happily, there are tons of choices. They both expressed an interest in learning Latin, so about 3 months after we started Spanish, we added Prima Latina. Great, accessible, easy book. Both kids enjoy it. Now that they are fascinated with German history, they want to start German. Like other parents here, I put my foot down. They need to get a better handle on the others before we add on.
  19. We also use Royal Fireworks Press and Rod and Staff. My kids devour the RFP books - very fun and interesting. Not at all your usual grammar book. We use Rod and Staff for our spine. (We're using the 4th grade book for my 2nd and 3rd grader, so you may want to go up a a grade or two if you choose to use R&S) What we enjoy most about it is that it isn't super repetitive (like FLL is) It changes topics enough to hold their interest and includes some writing work as well. We also use Writing Strands for more pure writing work and the boys like that, too.
  20. We love Klutz kits too - esp. the battery kit. We also have had hours of fun year after year with snap circuits. The Cool Stuff Science Kit, Activity Rocks and the Super Sensational science kit are also big hits. If you're not just looking for kits - we have used the heck out of our kitchen chemistry books. Most of them have similar experiments. They are usually very easy, use household products, and are lots of fun.
  21. I'm a huge Tide fan too!! That stuff is amazing for the laundry-challenged. Plus, I'm super-cheap, but I found that I can use a fraction of the amount the bottle says to use and the whole load is clean. My husband hates the scents and prefers scent free. For his stuff I use Arm and Hammer scent free and think it works great. It gets everything clean - even the hunting gear. You can also use half of what they recommend. - so it's kind of like getting it half price, right?
  22. I totally agree with you. We started out afterschooling and after a year realized that the time my kids spent in school was not terribly productive. We pulled them out and have been happily homeschooling since. Three years into it, I can honestly say it was the best decision we could have made. That said, I am thrilled that we did start out afterschooling. It made me much more secure in our decision. Good luck in the journey! Have fun and enjoy exploring the world with all your kids. That has been by far my favorite benefit of homeschooling - seeing the wonder of the world thru my kids' eyes. Have fun!
  23. We've used A Beka spelling for three years and enjoy it. I like that it has little activities (crossword puzzle or picture to draw, etc.) and that it builds in other skills - dictionary work, etc.
  24. I split the difference. I used to let them have all the freedom they wanted in coloring - until the potty humor started coming out on their coloring pages. :) Now I pick one coloring page per chapter that they each must color appropriately and carefully. The rest they can do with as they wish. I think you are right that they need to learn that what goes in their history notebook must be good, careful work, not pure garbage. That said, I don't critique the coloring much. As long as they tried to do a good job, I don't nitpick.
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